Google Map Ads Leverage Location for Mobile Search

Google July 29 introduced AdWords location extensions that let advertisers put their businesses' location and phone number on a Google Map ad for mobile Websites and applications. The ads will render on phones with full HTML browsers, such as Apple's iPhone and the Motorola Droid X.

Google is looking to target ads to smartphone users who often use Google
Maps to get directions and find businesses.
The company July 29 introduced new AdWords location extensions that let
advertisers put their businesses' location and phone number on an expandable
map ad for mobile Websites and applications in Google's content network.

Google Maps users will see such ads surface as banner text ads with a
business icon that expands to show the business location on a Google map along
with the ad creative, click-to-call phone number and directions.

The ads will render on phones with full HTML browsers, such as Apple's
iPhone and the Motorola Droid X.
While it might seem that a Google ad that leverages user location would
leverage the GPS capabilities of handsets as
well as Google's location servers, Google told Search Engine Land the ad is merely set up to track via IP
address for now.
"By providing mobile consumers more options to connect with your
business you can drive more traffic to your store, visits to your website or
calls to your business," wrote Dai Pham, Google Mobile Ads Marketing Team
member, in a blog post.
Pham added that business advertisers are not charged when users click to
expand the map or get directions; advertisers are only charged when a user
clicks to call the business or clicks to visit its Website.
Advertisers who want instructions on how to set up location extensions for
mobile apps and Websites, go here.
The expandable map ads build on Google's January launch of its click-to-call location extensions for search ads.
Click-to-call ads let advertisers add local business numbers alongside their
destination URLs in mobile search ads.
When smartphone users search for a local business from their mobile phone
and see ads that have these numbers, they may simply click the number to call
the business.
These ads have proved quite successful. Google AdSense partner Carnival
Cruises increased bookings from mobile phones by 175 percent when it began
offering click-to-call ads, said Google Senior Vice President of Product Management
Jonathan Rosenberg.
Click-through rates are up 6 percent when Google provides a phone
number and 8 percent when it offers a local address with ads.
Generally, Google has to feel great about its mobile ad prospects given that
most users who search from their phones do so on Google.
A new count from Royal Pingdom July 29 shows Google racked up 98 percent of all searches through July.
It helps that Google is the default search engine on Apple's iPhone and that
a cohort of more than 60 smartphones have been released to run on Google's
Android platform.